The invention relates to an apparatus (blank unit) for transporting a web of (thin) packaging material, especially of plastic foil, and for severing a blank from the web of material and feeding the blank to a transversely extending pack track on which articles (packs) can be transported in order to be wrapped in the blank, the web of material and the blank being guided to the region of the pack track by guide means, especially transport conveyors (suction conveyors).
Packaging material made from thin (plastic) foils is difficult to handle. When articles are wrapped in blanks, it is a known and conventional procedure to transport and guide the web of material and the severed blanks by suction conveyors until the blank is received by the article which is to be wrapped. The suction conveyors take the form of elongated guide means like those in the invention, which are subjected to negative pressure and which suck in and thus retain the packaging material which rests on a conveying strand. The suction conveyors are driven in the transport direction.
Transporting and guiding critical packaging material is particularly problematic in the manufacture of pack units (bundles) formed from a plurality of small packs. Bundles of paper tissues packs are produced in different sizes, for example with 6, 8, 10 and up to 24 individual packs. The web of material and the blanks which are severed from the web are dimensioned accordingly.